NEW ORLEANS (AP) — More than 3,000 lots flooded by Hurricane Katrina and bought with federal money in an emergency bailout sit idle across this city — a major drain on federal, state and city coffers that lends itself to no easy solution.

An Associated Press examination of the properties sold by homeowners abandoning New Orleans after the catastrophic 2005 flood has found that about $86 million has been spent on handling a total of 5,100 abandoned parcels.